Stanford Team Designs Findora Platform to Decentralize the Financial System

A team of entrepreneurs and academics has unveiled
the development of Findora, a
cryptographically transparent public blockchain for building financial
applications. Findora’s leadership team is comprised of experienced
entrepreneurs and Stanford academics, including Charles Lu, Ben Fisch, Benedikt
Bünz, and John Powers. Fisch and Bünz are each known for several inventions in
the blockchain sphere, including Bulletproofs, verifiable delay functions, and
Filecoin’s proof-of-storage. Powers is the former CEO of Stanford’s USD $25
billion fund.

Ben Fisch, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
of Findora, said, “The global financial system is fundamentally broken,
inaccessible, and lacking transparency. It needs blockchain’s transparent
nature, but also has strict privacy and regulatory requirements that ordinary
blockchain systems fail to meet. The Findora platform will create a global
network of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) based financial services
applications that leverages bespoke technology for confidential transactions,
balancing the need for privacy and regulatory compliance. Our infrastructure
will drive forward a world where users control their own data, identity, and
financial assets.”

Findora, which will boast the highest standards of
confidentiality, auditability, and interoperability, will have a multitude of
applications. These include open banking, asset securitization, trading
systems, and peer to peer (P2P) lending solutions. The first applications to be
built on Findora’s platform, called ‘Finapps’, will include a smart asset
ecosystem, an open banking platform, and a P2P lending platform.

The highly secure nature of Findora will be
achieved through the use of breakthrough zero-knowledge proof technology, a
cryptographic technique that has matured over the last 30 years. Findora’s
tools utilize the latest techniques in the field, including Bulletproofs,
invented by Findora co-founder Benedikt Bünz. Data encryption will be utilized
for digital identities, transactions amounts, and transaction metadata. Findora
will facilitate compliance requirements while still protecting confidential
data.

The FIN (Findora Infrastructure Network) is
Findora’s central network, offering interoperability between public, private
and consortia ledgers. It will allow seamless transactions of data across
applications and between parties, making Findora a viable shared financial
ledger for any application. The FIN can also connect to private ledgers,
comparable to an Internet of independent, interoperable financial ledgers. In
addition, Findora has designed a Smart Asset Framework (SAF), a compliant and programmable
interface which facilitates the transformation of any financial assets into
software. The SAF allows for the smooth movement and transfer of data across
applications and parties.

Benedikt Bunz, Co-founder and Head of Research of
Findora, said, “Billions of dollars are lost each year due to security fraud,
as a direct result of dishonest and opaque asset management. We want to address
these kinds of inefficiencies, by building cryptographically transparent
financial ledgers. By putting assets and financial agreements on a distributed
ledger, we want to combat fraud, offset the financial and administrative
burdens of compliance, and enable innovative types of capital markets. A fully
confidential, auditable platform – once a lofty ambition, is now available to
the world.”

Charles Lu, CEO of Findora, said, “Findora’s aim is
to recreate the financial world using decentralized technology. We want to
bring unbanked populations into the financial system, to remove costly
intermediaries, and to solve uneven access to financial services and capital
markets. We believe in worldwide financial democracy, where users also have
ownership of their financial transaction data and a complete understanding of
how this data is shared.Findora will bring increased control,
accessibility, and transparency to the financial space.”

About the Author

Gerald Fenech is an experienced journalist and reporter of over 15 years standing. He began his career with Maltamedia and di-ve.com, Malta’s first online news portals. He then worked for The Malta Independent Malta Today and Smash TV, the latter as news editor. He has reported several General Elections, EU summits and was also in Washington and New York in 2004 reporting the US Election on invitation of the US State Department. He specializes in politics, business and economic affairs and is also a well known sports journalist.

His interests include American history and politics, music, art and travel.